Planting mechanism.



C. E. WHITE PLANTING MECHANISM, APrucMloN FILED nume, 191s. RENEwED JAN. 8. |911.

lwl Patentemug. 11, 11117.

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CHARLES E. WHITE, OF MOLINE, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO DEERE & MANSU-R COMPANY, 0F MOLINE, ILLINOIS, A. CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

PLANTING MECHANISM.

Specication of Letters Patient.

Patented Aug. 14, 1917.

Application led August 6, 1913, Serial No. 783,443. Renewed January 8, 1917. Serial No. 141,351.

This invention relates to improvements in corn planters ofthe check row class, and

"particularly to those in the sub-class, each of which is providedl with a seeding mechanism having a delivery device which includes, as one of its elements, a rotatable seed plate having cells each adapted to receive a single kernel only, and a 'tappet controlled clutch governing the movements of said plate.

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view taken through a seed vcounting and separating mechanism embodying my invention.

Fig. .2 is a plan View of the lseed counting and separating mechanism with the can or hopper removed and also withthe housing for the cut-off and knock-out devices removed.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the seed plate.

Fig. 4 shows a portion ofthe seed plate on a larger scale. v

Fig. 5 is an edge view of the same.

Fig. 6 shows a part of the plate in Fig. 5 on a larger scale.

Fig. 7 is a plan view of the plate or ring which supports the seed plate.4

Fig. 8 is a view partly in vertical section, partly in side elevation, showing the seed plate and its supporting ring together with the cut-off and knock-out devices.

Fig. 9 is a plan view of the driving mechanism for the seed plate.

Fig. 10 is a plan of the plate which retains the horizontal driving gear in place.

Fig. 11 is a section showing the hinging of the several parts.

Mounted on the upper parts of a runner supporting bracket or casting 17 is a seedholding and separating mechanism. Bolted to the casting 17 is a base plate 18. The plate is formed with a central circular recessed boss 19 which serves to. .y support a drive or gear ring 20. The ring is provided on its lower side with bevel gear teeth adapted to mesh with the teeth of a bevel pinion 21 on a transverse seeder shaft 22 having a bearing at each end in a base plate 18. The gear ring 20 is held in place by a can plate 23, bolted to the base plate 18. Upon the upper face of the gear ring is a circular series of upwardly projecting teeth 24 for a purpose to be described. l

26 indicates a ring plate, hinged to the base casting at 25. It lies immediately below the seed plate, to be described, and furnishes the bottom or lower closure for the seed cells. It has a large central circular opening of a diameter/sufficient to permit the seed-plate-driving parts to freely rotate. It is invertible, and on one of its horizontal faces it has a ring groove or continuous depression 26?. Its other horizontal face is continuous or ungrooved'. Groove 26L is concentric with the cells formed in the seeder plate and lies at a distance, radially, equal to the .radial distance of the cells from the center. When the ring plate 26 is placed with the Agrooved side upward, the cells are relatively deeper and can receive kernels of the wider sort. 'When it is inverted, its fiat or ungrooved surface lies below the cells, and they are relatively shallower, as is desirable when seeds of the narrower sort are being planted.

27 is a ring-like casting at the bottom of the hopper.

28 is a spring latchv for securing the plate 26 and the hopper bottom 27 together. At 28a there is a lock of the common sort, formed of a bolt 29, pivoted to base 18, and

'a slotted lug at 28".

30 represents the hopper, box or can, with cover 31; 32 is the seed plate supported on ring plate 26, and having its lower periph# eral part adjacent to the inner surface of hopper bottom 27. It is provided with ldownward projecting lugs 33 which engage with teeth 24 on gear ring 20. It has an upper part 34 with a horizontal cross bar, an outward and downward sloping part 36,

vand a bottom horizontal part 35, all cast in .each other, see Fig. 8. The inner walls 39 are approximately parallel with the outer-4 most circle of the plate. Each cell is intended to receive and hold a single kernel of corn with its wider faces vor flat surfaces vertical, and with its ;longitudinal axis horizontal.

The metal"projectio`ns, one between each '5 of the cells and its neighbor, may be regardedas teeth, formed in the horizontal bottom part of the plate. The metal at the top of each of these teeth- Iis slightly cut away so that each has a rearward and out- 19 ward beveled surface, as at 38 which. ex-

tends to', or slightly beyond, the inner edge of the cell. At the rear end of this cut away or beveled Vsurface there is a deepened cavity orv pocket 40 with'a bottom surface somewhat lower than y, the inclined surface, but being practically an extension thereof.

The under part of each tooth (between two adjacent cells) is preferably recessed or cut away, as shown at 42. Plates, each y 2 having thev top part, the4 lower part, and the intermediate tapering connecting part, above described, and having these arranged in the way shown are designed for the purpose of economizing metal used in casting them. Asgenerally made, `these seeder plates have all of their parts lying in substantially the same horizontal planes; that is to say, they' Aare substantially flat throughout; and'l consequently, during the process of casting', they are warped, twisted, or thrown out of shape to such an extent that a large percenta e of the cost of manufacture is attributa le to the 'defective plates which result. f- But when the parts are arranged in relation to each other, and the entire article is shaped in the way described, the tendency to warp, twist or bend duringor after casting is obviated, the strainsl experienced when the heated metal cools being so balanced that misshaping is avoided. v The pronounced deep sockety or rabbet at Q40', near the rear end of each inclined sur- -face, is so designed that provision is made4 'for the proper delive of the butt kernels which are foun in greater or .'le "numbers in every charg of seed put in the hnpper.v .These have eretofore caused a Vlarge part ofthe Ytrouble experienced in automatic'plantng mechanisms'.

kernelsrespe'ctively, vary to vsuch an et'ent.

nem-thema ending dimensions ,of the central 'kernels those from thecentral-part of the cornear) that diiiicultyihas been experienced in .designinga arid-deliveringplate4 which date itself, not only to the Hat central kernels, but :also to t erounder or more apminal, deepened cavity or pocket 40, as I have provided, it still operates successfully wlth the central kernels, o'rthoseK of the fiat- V17 are provided with alinedvertical open- `r bottom plate. A `spring 56 engages the seed-separatingproxmately spherical or `pear-shapepad ,kernels at the butts.'- When a plate is formed with the inclined top surface 38 and the ter- ,f

1 properly timed relation to each other. In

ter sort, and at the same time makes novel provision for the entrance and delivery of the spherical butt kernels.'

-ffx'-tt the center of the hopper bottom there is a cap plate 45, carried by suitable bridges 43 and 44, cast 'integral therewith. It is dome shaped, 'with a fiat curvature, and the kernels readily slip thereon. gradually, outward and downward. The outer edge of this cap registers, approximately, with the top circular edge of theinclined or tapering part 36` ofthe seed plate.

The `lat-,ter is centered by means of the cap 45 it having loose engagement therewith of such nature that it is prevented from crowding in any direction,' radially, toward the surrounding ring part of the vhopper bottom 27. This centering is obtained by companion parts which loosely interengage and permit the seed plate to be separated from the cap and removed without requiring the detaching of bolts or anyother fixed devices. The means shown for this are an open bottom boss or flange 46 (cast integral with the underside of the'cap 45) and a hollow pin, stud or lug 47 cast with the plate 32, the latter fitting snugly in the boss 46, though detachable, as aforesaid, therefrom.

l The ibase casting 18 andthe main casting ings 48 49. -In the retaining plate 26 there is also formed an opening or notch 50 which'V registers `with the openings 48, 49. As thel seedl plate is rotated, the seed cells are brought over these openings and the seeds pass downward through them. For positively ejecting the seeds from the cells I provide a lknock-out device having a roller 51 mounted on an arm 52, which is supported by trunnions 5'3 resting in ynotches or recesses in the hopper bottom plate,v 27 The roller is adapted to' reciprocate and partly, enter the cells as they pass and to forcethe seeds downward. In'orde'r to prevent more thany a single seed from entering one cell andl being carried to the point Aoi discharge, I provide a'cut-o 54, which issupported on trunnions`55 vresting in recesses in the hop- Y ook-out and the cnt-oil:l and serves to hold each-of them in itslowe'rmost position. A cap or housing 57 incloses the upper parts of the-cut-ol -and knock-out devices and serves to hold the trunn'ions in place in the 120 Wl'len` two mechanisms of thesort'above described are to be'nounte'dupon a'pplanter atOPPOSlte sides thereofit is essential that theybe connected to the driving V devices 'in order-to assist the Aworkmen in,Y properly as-v semblmgthe parts lll-provide each pinion l21 with an arrow 58, 1g'.`9).' The arrowson the two pinions are-in the same-plane and point in the same direction. Upon the gear 131'76v .mesme w ring 2O I also provide arrows 59. In the construction shown, there are four times as many teeth on the gear ring as on the pinions, and therefore four arrows are provided on the ring. In assembling, it is only necessary for the workman to place the gear ring with one of its arrows in alinement with the arrow on the c'orrespondingpinion. This will insure the proper relationship between the rin s of the two mechanisms and consequently etween the two seed plates, and will insure the simultaneous dropping of seeds in equal numbers from both plates.

The necessity for indicators such as those shown for insuring proper assembly of the several parts arises from the fact that the number of gear teeth on the gear wheel 20 is not the same as the number of seed cells in .the plate. Without indicating means such as I have shown it would be possible for the workman to so assemble the parts that, at the end of an actuation, one of the plates would be positioned with a cell fully over the discharge passage, as shown in Fig. 8, and the other would -be positioned with the cell but partly over the discharge passage, so that it would be doubtful as to whether or not the seed would be ejected.

As the seed plate is rotated, each cell receives a single seed from the mass of seeds in the hopper and carries it to the point of discharge. The cut-olf 54 coperate's with the plate to prevent. the passage of moreY than a single seed in each cell and the knockout device 51 acts to positively eject the seedsvfrom the cells as they ass the dis charge opening. As above dldscribed, the seed plate is of a peculiar construction. The front wall of each cell is much lower than the rear wall and a sloping top surface on each tooth extends from the rear wall of one cell downward to the front wall of the next. This aids materially in the entry of seeds into the cells; such .entering being facilitated, articularly as concerns approximately sp erical kernels, by the deepened pockets 40, above described. The pockets permit the thicker' parts of the kernels to settle down so that the cut-oi' 54 will slip over their top surfaces and not throw or'roll them out of the cells, as has been the case in earlier seed delivering devices of this class.

I do not herein claim as a part of my resent invention the marker devices wherey a proper assembly of the seed plate drving gearing is assured, these devices being described and claimed in my co-pending application for planters, Serial No. 783,444,

, iled August 6, 1913.

What I claim is:

1. In a planter, the combination ofv a ro-' tary seed delivering plate having cells for separating seeds from a seed mass and movmg them to a point of delivery, a horizontal 65 supporting member forthe plate, the lower surface of the seed plate and the upper Ysurface of the supporting member being free from inter-engaging projections, a relatively" stationary wall adjacent the'seeds when in said cells and toward which wall the plate tends to crowd the seeds, two vertically separable loosely inter-engaging journal elements adapted to center the seed plate relative to its vertical axis, one formed as an integral part of the seed plate and the other carried by a relatively stationary support above the plate.

. 2. In a corn planting mechanism adapted to separate the seeds from a seed mass and carry them singly to a point of delivery, a seed selecting and carrying plate having an upper horizontal part formed with a plate centering element adapted to engage an upward removable companion centering element above it, a lower horizontal part formed with peripheral seed cells, an intervening part connecting the two horizontal parts, and driving devices, the centering element, the two horizontal parts, the connecting part, and the driving devices all being cast integral.

3. For a corn planting mechanism of the class specified, the herein described seed selecting and delivering plate formed with the lower horizontal part having peripheral cells each adapted to receive a kernel in a vertical edgewise position, an upper horizontal part having integral therewith a plate centering device and downwardly projecting power receiving teeth, and an interme diate tapering part connecting the two horizontal parts.

4. For a planting mechanism of the class specified, a seed selecting .and delivering plate formed with a lower horizontal part aving peripheral cells each adapted to hold a single kernel in a vertical edgewise position, an upper horizontal part formed with a plate centering element, and an intermediate `tapering part connecting the horizontal parts, in combination with an upwardly removable centering element loosely engaging the centering element on the late.

5. In a planting mechanism o the class described, a rotatable seed plate having pe ripheral cells with their outer sides open and each adapted to receive a single kernel in a vertical edgewise position, each cell having a relatively low front wall, a relatively high rear wall, and an inner edge wall formed with a depressed pocket to receive a portion of the thicker part of a relatively thick kernel, the upper outer edge of the plate between each two adjacent cells being inclined uniformly from the high rear wall of one cell to the low rear wall of the next.

, 6. In a planting mechanism of the class specied, a rotatable seed plate provided .with peripheral cells adapted to receive ker- 130 nels edgewise, with'intervening teeth each formed with a backward and downward inclined upper surface, with a pocket or recess at the rear end of the inclined surface for receiving the thicker part of a relatively thick kernel, and with an annular wall extending upward and inward from theinnerthe cells to .forml downwardly. depressedpockets with their bottom surfaces substantially in alinement with the surface of the p upward and inward inclined part of the plate.

8. In a corn planter of the class described, a seed-carrying delivering mechanism having in combination a stationaryV vertical wall, a single vertically fixed rotary seed plate with peripheral cells having laterally open sides adjacent the stationary wall, a

non-rotary plate below the seed plate providing the bottom closure for the cells and movable to bring the top surface of the clo. sure into higher or into lower planes, at will, to vary the depth of the cells.

9. In a corn planter of the class described, a seed-carrying and delivering mechanism having in combination a stationary vertical wall, a single vertically Xed rotary seed plate with peripheral cells having laterally open sides adjacent the stationary wall, each adapted 'to receive a single kernel edgewise, an invertible plate below the seedplate having a relatively high closure surace. on one side and a relatively lower closure surface on the other side.

10. In a cornplanter of the class described, a seed-carrying andv delivering mechanism having in combination a base, a stationary vertical wall, a single vertically fixed rotary seed plate with peripheral cells having laterally open sides adjacent to the stationary wall and each adapted to `receive a single kernel edgewise vertically, a nonrotary vinvertible plate hinged to the base having on its horlzontal faces similar supports for the seed plate and having on one of said faces a surface providing a relatively .high closure for the seed cells and on the opposite surface providing a relatively lower closure for the seed cells.

In testimony whereof, I ax my signature, in presence of two witnesses BAILEY W. AVERY, i I JOHN W. IDAY. 

